Drew Sharp: Time for Big Ten basketball to show if it really is elite

8:37 AM, March 14, 2014

Here's a photo of the Big Ten Experience in Rosemont, Ill., that celebrates the Final Four appearances and national championships. There hasn't been a national title in a major college sport in quite some time. / Associated Press

Detroit Free Press Columnist

There is no de facto No. 1 team in the land now that the regular-season appetizer is finished and the maddening gluttony of Marchís main course has arrived. There is no monster lurking out there comparable to 2007 Florida, 2009 North Carolina or 2012 Kentucky. Call it parity or perhaps more accurately, mediocrity.

Either way, weíre approaching the most balanced NCAA tournament in recent memory.

Iíve long defended the Big Tenís basketball prowess, particularly when juxtaposed against the conferenceís woeful football standing nationally. In the last 15 years, the Big Ten has comprised half of the Final Four teams three times. No other conference can boast that. It has produced six different Final Four participants and five different national finalists. Only the once-excessively bloated Big East produced more respective Final Four participants during that period.

But there comes a point when the physically grueling rigors of a tough conference schedule must produce the temerity and toughness necessary to win six straight games in the NCAA tournament. The Big Ten stands at that crossroads as it convenes in Bankers Life Fieldhouse this weekend for its postseason tournament.

If it canít win its first NCAA basketball championship since Michigan State in 2000 with the lack of overall national superiority, the Big Ten loses its distinction as the most competitive basketball conference in the country.

Big Ten basketball reminds me of the Tigers. Thereís plenty of pomp with three straight divisional championships and three straight American League Championship Series appearances. But you can only live so long on hype and potential. You must get it done and win it all or write a legacy of chronic pretending.

ďWeíre certainly due, but I donít think weíre obsessed about it looking at it as some form of validation,Ē said Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan. ďEvery measure used toward evaluating a leagueís overall quality has consistently ranked the Big Ten as one of the best in the country.Ē

But the Big Ten desperately needs some championship hardware.

The top four collegiate sports are Division I football, menís basketball, womenís basketball and baseball.

The Big Ten doesnít have a national title in any of those sports since Ohio Stateís BCS championship following the 2002 season. In comparison, the SEC has a total of 16 national championships since the Big Tenís last crown (eight in football, three in menís basketball, three in baseball and two in womenís basketball).

Thatís an embarrassment.

The odds are decent that the Big Ten could once again fill up half of the Final Four.

Despite losing its regular-season finale, Wisconsinís played the best basketball in the conference over the past month. The Badgers have annually been that preferred long shot. Michiganís a strong team, joyously celebrating its first outright Big Ten conference championship since Gary Grant sported a full length fur 28 years ago around Crisler Arena.

And you still canít forget Michigan State.

ESPN analyst Jay Bilas tabbed the Spartans as the best team in country last week ó provided they stay healthy and get sufficient practice time. Sports Illustratedís Seth Davis picked the Spartans as one of his five favorites to win the title with the caveat that MSU gets close to two weeks to get healthy and, just as important, in sync with player rotations and responsibilities.

The Big Ten has talked a nice game the last 15 years. Itís time for action. Itís time for results.